Gophers coach P.J. Fleck focusing on Ohio State, opening opponent in 2021

Over the next three months, there are freshmen to get acclimated, prep prospects to recruit and a training camp to run. But when P.J. Fleck starts talking about Gophers football for the 2021 season, the coach's attention turns to a date and opponent circled in scarlet.

Sept. 2. Ohio State. TCF Bank Stadium.

The Gophers will open their season that Thursday night against the Buckeyes, the four-time defending Big Ten champions who fell to Alabama in the College Football Playoff championship game in January. It's both a tremendous challenge and opportunity as Fleck opens his fifth season as Gophers coach.

The opportunity is playing one of college football's traditional powers in a home game that will be televised nationally on Fox. In what's expected to be a season of returning to normalcy after COVID-19 altered the 2020 college football landscape, Fleck is hopeful that the Gophers (3-4 in 2020) can fill TCF Bank Stadium for a visit from the Buckeyes, a team expected to be the highest-ranked visiting opponent in a Minnesota opener since No. 2 Texas Christian in 2015.

"What I want to be able to see is, hopefully and if it's safe enough, a full sellout, and a third straight home game as a sellout for the opening game Sept. 2," Fleck said, referencing the Penn State and Wisconsin games that closed the 2019 home schedule, before the coronavirus wiped out attendance last year. "We have an elite opponent coming into TCF Bank Stadium."

A sellout could happen if the stadium is fully open. The Twins, for example, will increase capacity from the current 60% to 80% in June. On July 5, their attendance cap will be removed. The Big Ten in late March announced that schools can follow local health guidelines for the remainder of the 2020-21 season when determining attendance.

No announcement has been made about the 2021-22 season.

The challenge, of course, is an Ohio State program that resides in college football's upper echelon. The Buckeyes have played in the College Football Playoff three times, winning the inaugural title in 2014, losing in the semifinals in 2016 and reaching the final last year. Ohio State has won 45 of 52 games against the Gophers in the series, and Minnesota has won only twice against the Buckeyes since 1966.

Led by quarterback Justin Fields, the No. 11 overall pick to Chicago, Ohio State had 10 of its players drafted this year, tied for the most with Alabama. The Buckeyes will have holes to fill, but their stable of four- and five-star recruits makes the transition easier.

"No matter who's out there, doesn't matter who they've lost, they're always going to reload," said Fleck, who started his coaching career as a graduate assistant under then-Ohio State coach Jim Tressel in 2006. "They're not going to rebuild."

Because of COVID-19 restrictions set by the NCAA, college coaches have not been able to meet with recruits in person since January 2020. That all changes next Tuesday when coaches can meet recruits face-to-face.

"The biggest thing I've missed is the social interaction. The people, right?" Fleck said. "It's a program built on people."

"It's an open market for kids to go anywhere, which again, I think is very fair, and allows kids to be able to play and if anything's good for the student-athlete, I'm all about it," Fleck said. "It just changes the dynamics of recruiting. It makes you feel a little bit more like a GM in the recruiting process than just the head coach."

The Gophers will have official visits on campus the weekends of June 11-13 and June 18-20, plus some midweek visits.